Free Flirting With Forever by Kim Boykin Page B

her go. He’d catch the Braves game by himself. But the idea of her leaving—him. His heart jolted at the thought. He massaged the little nerve twitching above his eye. If he was this bad after four days with this woman, he was so screwed. “Yes. Sure.”
    “Of course, I’ll email the bill to you, Mr. Randall. The car Ms. Jordan ordered will be here soon.” Car? Shit. He needed to get his ass downstairs. “Twenty minutes, maybe less.”
    He thanked the woman, slammed down the phone, and shoved all of his shit into his bag, the urge to straighten and organize nearly killing him. He heard her door slam, zipped his bag and headed down the hall just as the elevator door was closing. He jammed his finger into the button and waited for the next elevator.
    When Jake stepped into the lobby, a red compact car was parked in front of the entrance. The rental car guy was talking to Tara, seemed to be going over the agreement, checking the car out for dents and dings. He put Tara’s bag in the trunk and closed it before tossing the keys to her.
    “Got it. Thanks,” Jake said, intercepting the keys and throwing his bag into the back seat. The car guy looked like he wasn’t too sure about Jake. “It’s okay, she’s with me.”
    “You really know how to piss a woman off,” Tara gritted out. Jake got in the driver’s seat, which was a feat at six-four. She got into the car and slammed the door hard enough to make the paint fall off.
    “Where to?” he asked.
    “The Isle of Palms,” she snapped.
    Of course. Only a three hundred mile deviation from the itinerary.
    Jake seemed relaxed and didn’t press me to talk. I stared at the infamous Atlanta traffic that was backed up for miles.
    “I’ve only told three people about Jim.” Four if you count the cop who tried to arrest me for DUI. “I’m sorry I blew up at you; I know you had good intentions.”
    “No, I’m sorry, Tara. I should have asked for your input or at least told you before we got to Lou’s place.”
    “How do you know her, Jake?”
    “I was a senior in college and worked for her as an intern.” He paused. “We had a thing, but it was over years ago.”
    “Like two years ago?” Because she sure made it look like she was into him, or at the very least was still a friend with benefits.
    “The end of that summer, Lou was accused of sexual harassment by a guy who worked for the firm, and she was fired. Lou comes from money and the guy was just looking for a big fat settlement. Said he had specific dates that she’d come on to him. Knowing Lou, she probably did, but the guy was an idiot. He probably had a pretty good case, but he was an idiot, about eighty percent of those dates, she was out of town.”
    “With you?”
    He nodded.
    “What happened to the guy?”
    “When I was deposed, it didn’t look great for Lou that she was sleeping with an intern, but it debunked most of the specifics in the guy’s claim. His lawyers had taken the case on a contingency, they dumped him, I guess. Anyway, Lou turned around and sued the company for wrongful termination, sexual discrimination, you name it. With what she already had, she won enough money to buy the company and rebranded it.”
    I probably should have thanked him for being so honest except it made me sick to think of him in bed with Lou. Was I really mad he’d told her about Jim? More embarrassed than anything else. And jealous of her. But I didn’t have any claim on Jake Randall.
    “Tara, Lou’s business is built on confidentiality; you don’t have to worry about her telling anyone about your husband,” he said. “I hate to bring this up in the car, but at least you can’t run away from me.” He looked at me long enough to make me nervous, and then back at the road. “Are we going to talk about the kiss?”
    Traffic was still stalled. It would be risky, but I could jump out probably without a scratch. Or I could have a grownup conversation with Jake Randall.
    “Look, Jake, since Jim left,